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Christmas came to South Florida sports reporters two months early today as Rex Ryan held his weekly conference call with the media this morning in advance of Monday night’s Jets-Dolphins game.

Ryan, the loquacious third-year coach, didn’t refuse any questions, and didn’t disappoint with his answers. Even with his team at 2-3 and sitting on a three-game losing streak, Ryan isn’t backing down from his Super Bowl prediction, which he initially made back in February at the NFL Combine.

“Do I think we’ll win it? Yeah, absolutely,” Ryan said.

Ryan touched on several topics, including the struggles of Mark Sanchez, the sense of urgency in his locker room, calling Jason Taylor a “Hall of Fame player,” calling the Dolphins “a good team”, and taking a nice, subtle dig at Vontae Davis and Sean Smith, who boasted during the preseason that they were the best cornerback duo in the league, but have statistically been among the worst through the first quarter of the season.

Here are the highlights of Ryan’s call today:

Has the 3-game losing streak affected your team’s mood?
“Of course you’re down. Everything stinks when you lose. The food tastes terrible, beer is warm, everything. When you lose it’s absolutely rotten. But there’s one way to fix it, that’s to win.”

Is there a sense of urgency with this team?
“In baseball, you got 162 games. So basically when you lose a game, that’s almost like the equivalent of a 10-game winning streak. So we’re on a 30-game losing streak, if you will, so that’s how desperate you feel to try to get a victory. And I know (the Dolphins) feel the exact same way.”

Is this game a must-win?
“We don’t have the luxury of saying it’s not a must-win. We treat every game as a must-win.”

Would it be an embarrassment to lose to the winless Dolphins at home?
“Hey, the years I’ve been here, we have not beat Miami at home. So that’s a good football team. The record is what it is, they’ve played some good teams and all that. They’re in every single game. Don’t think for a second that we don’t recognize the fact that that’s a good team there.”

Is there discord in the locker room based on the New York Daily News report that the receivers complained about the offense?
“Of course not. That was some report that was absolutely 100 percent false. And the reason I can say that is because I was supposed to be the guy that the conversations went through, and that absolutely did not take place.”

Biggest difference in Miami’s offense this year?
“I always said, Chad Henne looked like Dan Marino against us one game a year, and then the other game he wouldn’t do anything and we’d lose, it’s hard to figure out.”

“This year with Brian Daboll, very creative guy, they’ve been moving the ball well. It’s just that they’ve struggled a little on third down and in the Red Zone. If not for that this would be a high ranking offense, but the way it is, certainly it’s a talented group.”

On Mark Sanchez’s play?
“I think he’s had his moments. He’s played really well, but we’ve got to be more consistent. I’d like to see him be more consistent throughout the game, maybe start a little faster.”
On Matt Moore?
“He’s thrown more TDs than INTs, so it’s not like he’s a brand new guy that hasn’t experienced any success. He’s a guy that if he gets hot you got to watch out for.”

On Jason Taylor?
“This is a Hall of Fame player, there’s no question about it. He’s a Hall of Fame person, as well. We miss him dearly as a person and we also miss him as a mentor. He’s a tremendous person and I was blessed to say that I was Jason Taylor’s coach for a year. But it was really an enjoyable time and I really can’t say enough good things about Jason.”
Having Darrelle Revis and the fifth-ranked pass defense, do you dare teams to throw against you?
“Well, we dared New England to run on us, and they did. I don’t know if I want to dare anybody to do anything now. … We’ve got two excellent cover corners. I understand we’re not as good as Miami’s, but we’re pretty good.”

Is it dangerous playing a team coming off a bye?
“I think it definitely helps – especially our defense isn’t really traditional, and I think having another week will really help teams. Hopefully it doesn’t help Miami this week.”

What’s it been like for you, walking around the streets of New York during this losing streak?
“Hey, shoot, I don’t know. It’s no big deal. Shoot, I’m still the man.”